Protests in Los Angeles are coming into their fourth day over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
President Donald Trump, over the weekend, referred to as protesters “violent, insurrectionist mobs” after he deployed the Nationwide Guard regardless of objections from California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The escalatory step is prompting a bunch of authorized questions, together with how far Trump is prepared to go to make use of his authority to curb protests over his administration’s immigration raids.
President Donald Trump arrives at Hagerstown Regional Airport, en path to Camp David, in Hagerstown, Maryland, June 8, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
On Sunday, Trump was requested by ABC Information Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott if he’s ready to invoke the 1807 Rebel Act. The final time the act was used was in 1992 in the course of the Los Angeles riots.
“Depends upon whether or not or not there may be an riot,” Trump replied.
When requested by Scott if he thought an riot was going down in Los Angeles, Trump replied, “No, no. However you have got violent individuals, and we aren’t going to allow them to get away with it,” Trump stated on the time. However by Sunday evening, he was referring to the protesters on his Reality Social platform as “violent, insurrectionist mobs” and “paid insurrectionists.”
Requested to outline riot, Trump stated, “You truly actually simply have to take a look at the location to see what’s taking place.”
Trump notably didn’t rule out sending active-duty Marines to California after Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth stated they had been standing by. A U.S. official confirmed on Monday afternoon that 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms, California, have been ordered to help in Los Angeles.
The bar for sending active-duty Marines? “The bar is what I believe is,” Trump had stated on Sunday.
What to know in regards to the Rebel Act
Typically, the usage of federal troops on U.S. soil is usually prohibited. The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act limits the navy from being concerned in civilian regulation enforcement except Congress approves it or below circumstances “expressly licensed by the Structure.”
One exception is the Rebel Act, a 218-year-old regulation signed by President Thomas Jefferson.
The Rebel Act states, partially: “At any time when there may be an riot in any State towards its authorities, the President could, upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature can’t be convened, name into Federal service such of the militia of the opposite States, within the quantity requested by that State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers essential to suppress the riot.”
One other provision states it may be used “at any time when the President considers that illegal obstructions, combos, or assemblages, or revolt towards the authority of america, make it impracticable to implement the legal guidelines of america in any State by the unusual course of judicial proceedings.”
Some authorized consultants have warned the regulation is overly broad and obscure, and there have been varied requires it to be reformed to supply better checks on presidential energy.
Scenes from downtown Los Angeles after the Los Angeles Riots Could 2, 1992.
Paul Harris/Getty Photographs
Nationwide Guard troops deployed to the College of Alabama to power its desegregation, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, June 11, 1963.
Shel Hershorn/Getty Photographs
The Rebel Act has been invoked in response to 30 crises over its historical past, based on the Brennan Heart for Justice, together with by presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy to desegregate faculties after the Supreme Court docket’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Training.
Most of its makes use of concerned federal troops being deployed, although just a few conditions had been resolved after troops had been ordered to reply however earlier than they arrived on the scene, the Brennan Heart famous.
When it was final utilized in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush to ship the Nationwide Guard to Los Angeles, it was on the request of then-Gov. Pete Wilson as riots exploded within the metropolis after the acquittal of 4 white cops charged within the beating of Rodney King.
If Trump had been to invoke the act, he would probably be doing so towards Newsom’s needs — one thing that hasn’t been accomplished since President Lyndon B. Johnson within the Nineteen Sixties to take care of civil unrest.
How Trump mobilized the Nationwide Guard
Trump didn’t invoke the Rebel Act when he activated and deployed the Nationwide Guard to Los Angeles.
As a substitute, he cited Title 10 of the U.S. Code — which incorporates a provision that permits the president to name on federal service members when there “is a revolt or hazard of revolt towards the authority of the Authorities of america” or when “the President is unable with the common forces to execute the legal guidelines of america.”
In keeping with a presidential memorandum, Trump stated he was sending the Nationwide Guard to “quickly defend ICE and different United States Authorities personnel who’re performing Federal capabilities, together with the enforcement of Federal regulation, and to guard Federal property, at places the place protests towards these capabilities are occurring or are more likely to happen based mostly on present menace assessments and deliberate operations.”
Police detain a demonstrator throughout a protest towards federal immigration sweeps in downtown Los Angeles, June 8, 2025.
Mike Blake/Reuters
The memo acknowledged that 2,000 Nationwide Guard troops may very well be deployed for 60 days or “on the discretion” of Hegseth.
Troops referred to as up below Title 10 fall usually are prevented from direct involvement in regulation enforcement duties below the Posse Comitatus Act, except Trump invokes the Rebel Act or different restricted exceptions apply.
Newsom stated on Monday the state is suing the administration over Trump deploying the Nationwide Guard.
“He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the Nationwide Guard,” Newsom wrote on social media. “The order he signed does not simply apply to CA. It’s going to permit him to enter ANY STATE and do the identical factor. We’re suing him.”
